Party Held For Residents Near Reservation

Troopers Throw Party To Make Up For Lost Summer

COLCHESTER — For the children of Stanavage Road, this summer was not like any other.

Overnight, their quiet country road began to look like a war zone, with uniformed state troopers on one side and armed Indians dressed in battle fatigues on the other.

But in the months that state troopers spent outside the Golden Hill Paugussett Reservation during a dispute over the sale of cigarettes, the police became magnets to the children, who would daily walk or ride over to their cruisers to talk, play and ask questions.

Saturday, the state troopers who befriended these children threw a Halloween party to thank them for adding a bright spot to their jobs and to apologize for disrupting their summer play.

"It was intended for all the children the guys have dealt with on Stanavage Road. All the kids couldn't have a normal summer," said Sgt. Peter Terenzi, who helped organize the party.

"Many were afraid to come and go because of the guns. But many of the people were very personable to the guys. It was the guys' way of saying thank you," Terenzi said.

"Thank you" came in the form of bags of candy, pumpkins, rides on the bouncy Moonwalk, and a special visit from Barney, the dinosaur. Chris Whiting, an intern who works at the barracks and wants to become a trooper, suffered through the two hours in the hot, homemade purple Barney costume.

Invitations were sent to residents in the area of the 106-acre reservation, where troopers had been on 24-hour surveillance during the summer.

The situation has since cooled down and only a few troopers remain outside the reservation. It now appears that the tribe's leader, MoonFace Bear, may soon turn himself in to face the charges of illegal sale of tax-free cigarettes.

"It's a happy ending to a could-have-been-bad situation," said David Patterson, of Stanavage Road, who attended with his two

children.

Troopers paid for the party with donations from local businesses and out of their own pockets. Troopers turned the state police garage at the Colchester barracks into a large party room, complete with orange streamers and pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin.

About 60 children -- including some who were state troopers' children -- attended the party in costumes.

Matt Patterson, 6, of Stanavage Road, said he loved visiting the troopers over the summer. He would sneak up behind their cars, pretending to be a Ninja fighter, and try to squirt the troopers with his Super Soaker water gun. Occasionally, he would even get some of their lunch.

"They were friendly. I talked with them about where they work and how come they had to arrest people," said Matt, who was dressed like Dracula for the party. "I would squirt them and spy on them."

Shenelle Fornier, 4, was a little scared of the troopers at first when she took walks with her grandmother down Stanavage Road.

But, "she got to know them quite well. They were very nice to her," said her mother, Lisa Fornier.

Lorraine Neri said her 2-year-old daughter, Jennifer, would notice the police in their cars and ask why they could not take their normal walks anymore.

"We used to walk down to the Indian [reservation]. We didn't once everything started," Lorraine Neri said.

Jennifer came to the party dressed as a lion Saturday and seemed to forget all about the interruptions during her summer.

"She has been very excited about it," her father Tim Lorette said. "She's been talking about it all week.